Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 – 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM
Format: Express Workshop
Room: Oceanic 6
Your role: Come ready to brainstorm, talk, and listen! Come discuss turning evidence into practice using findings from a large cross-institutional distance education study conducted by the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. We often hear people discuss data-driven decisions or evidence-based practices, yet many times the data and evidence that is driving our decisions and our practices within our educational institutions lacks the rigor of empirical research. The DETA Research Center spent 2 years designing research models and conducting rigorous research in higher ed across a dozen institutions (2-year and 4-year) to help us identify effective instructional and institutional practices in blended and online courses and programs. The research models including guides to research, survey instrumentation packet, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables were shared in the DETA Research Toolkit. The data from student surveys and institutionally warehoused data allowed us to gather empirical findings as to what actually works for the students, in particularly underrepresented students, rather than administrators, instructors, or instructional support staff deciding on anecdote, experience, or assumptions based on partial or inaccurate data. This sessions brings those cross-institutional findings in blended and online learning and ask the participants — what do we do next? This working groups will takes these finding from this large on distance education (blended, online, and competency-based education) and challenges the participants on determining how to interpret these findings, turn them into practice, and develop diffusion processes across the institution. Results alone are useless. Let’s talk about how to interpret these results and determine what they mean for us and our institutions. Let’s talk about whether or not we can turn these results into practices in our organizations, and if so, what practices would we develop. Let’s talk about how we would diffuse these innovative practices across our institutions for students, instructors and faculty, support staff, and administrators. Goal: What research is being conducted in distance education (online, blended, and CBE)?
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16th, 2016, – 2:45PM – 3:30PM
Format: Presentation session
Room: Asia 2
Your role: Come ready to listen OR come with a brief presentation of your research (5 minutes/5 slides max) Through rigorous, cross-institutional research, the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA, pronounced data) strives to improve student access and success in distance education, in particular for underrepresented students. Launched at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), we released the DETA Research Toolkit in October of 2016, which contains research guides, pertinent survey instruments, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables. Alongside the release of the toolkit was a request for research proposals that align with DETA’s goals. Through a competitive process, institutions and faculty across the country were awarded grants to conduct quasi-experimental, survey, and meta-analytic studies. The objective of this session is to hear from awardees and other collaborators who are conducting research in distance education at their respective institutions. Each researcher will briefly describe their study in a lightning round format of 5 minutes and 5 slides per persenter.
Goal: What support is available to help do research?
Date/Time: Thursday, November 17th, 2016, – 10:00AM – 10:45AM
Format: Discussion session
Room: Asia 2
Your role: Come ready to ask questions, pose problems, brainstorm solutions, share opportunities for funding or collaboration, and more! The DETA Research Center seeks to engage a community of individuals interested in or currently conducting research on distance education. After the presentation of research studies, participants will gather in small groups to discuss a.) challenges in conducting research and needs of the research community, b.) possible solutions or resources to meet needs and overcome challenges, and c.) opportunities for funding and collaboration. In previous DETA community discussions, we identified some of the top challenges in conducting research; these included a lack of standardization in the research process, difficulty with adequately incentivizing participation, reliance on self-reported data, absence of a collaborative culture despite the necessity of a team-based approach, and problems accessing individual level data. One key recommendation was to build a community to proffer and provide support. We hope to expand on previous efforts to increase each individual’s and institution’s capacity to carry out DETA Research by building community and implementing solutions. For more, view these posts: Challenges in Conducting DETA Research and Recommendations for DETA Research Support.
OLC Accelerate
November 16th-18th, Orlando, FLGoal: How do we turn research findings into practice?
Title: Creating and Diffusing Online Instructional and Institutional Practices From Data and Evidence
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 – 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM
Format: Express Workshop
Room: Oceanic 6
Your role: Come ready to brainstorm, talk, and listen!
Come discuss turning evidence into practice using findings from a large cross-institutional distance education study conducted by the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
We often hear people discuss data-driven decisions or evidence-based practices, yet many times the data and evidence that is driving our decisions and our practices within our educational institutions lacks the rigor of empirical research.
The DETA Research Center spent 2 years designing research models and conducting rigorous research in higher ed across a dozen institutions (2-year and 4-year) to help us identify effective instructional and institutional practices in blended and online courses and programs. The research models including guides to research, survey instrumentation packet, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables were shared in the DETA Research Toolkit.
The data from student surveys and institutionally warehoused data allowed us to gather empirical findings as to what actually works for the students, in particularly underrepresented students, rather than administrators, instructors, or instructional support staff deciding on anecdote, experience, or assumptions based on partial or inaccurate data.
This sessions brings those cross-institutional findings in blended and online learning and ask the participants — what do we do next? This working groups will takes these finding from this large on distance education (blended, online, and competency-based education) and challenges the participants on determining how to interpret these findings, turn them into practice, and develop diffusion processes across the institution. Results alone are useless.
Let’s talk about how to interpret these results and determine what they mean for us and our institutions.
Let’s talk about whether or not we can turn these results into practices in our organizations, and if so, what practices would we develop.
Let’s talk about how we would diffuse these innovative practices across our institutions for students, instructors and faculty, support staff, and administrators.
Goal: What research is being conducted in distance education (online, blended, and CBE)?
Title: Research In Distance Education And Technological Advancements (DETA): Part 1: Research Project Lightning Round
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16th, 2016, – 2:45PM – 3:30PM
Format: Presentation session
Room: Asia 2
Your role: Come ready to listen OR come with a brief presentation of your research (5 minutes/5 slides max)
Through rigorous, cross-institutional research, the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA, pronounced data) strives to improve student access and success in distance education, in particular for underrepresented students. Launched at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), we released the DETA Research Toolkit in October of 2016, which contains research guides, pertinent survey instruments, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables. Alongside the release of the toolkit was a request for research proposals that align with DETA’s goals. Through a competitive process, institutions and faculty across the country were awarded grants to conduct quasi-experimental, survey, and meta-analytic studies. The objective of this session is to hear from awardees and other collaborators who are conducting research in distance education at their respective institutions. Each researcher will briefly describe their study in a lightning round format of 5 minutes and 5 slides per persenter.
Goal: What support is available to help do research?
Title: Research In Distance Education And Technological Advancements (DETA): Part 2: Community Discussions
Date/Time: Thursday, November 17th, 2016, – 10:00AM – 10:45AM
Format: Discussion session
Room: Asia 2
Your role: Come ready to ask questions, pose problems, brainstorm solutions, share opportunities for funding or collaboration, and more!
The DETA Research Center seeks to engage a community of individuals interested in or currently conducting research on distance education. After the presentation of research studies, participants will gather in small groups to discuss a.) challenges in conducting research and needs of the research community, b.) possible solutions or resources to meet needs and overcome challenges, and c.) opportunities for funding and collaboration. In previous DETA community discussions, we identified some of the top challenges in conducting research; these included a lack of standardization in the research process, difficulty with adequately incentivizing participation, reliance on self-reported data, absence of a collaborative culture despite the necessity of a team-based approach, and problems accessing individual level data. One key recommendation was to build a community to proffer and provide support. We hope to expand on previous efforts to increase each individual’s and institution’s capacity to carry out DETA Research by building community and implementing solutions. For more, view these posts: Challenges in Conducting DETA Research and Recommendations for DETA Research Support.